TOPIC:

I'm wanting to fish at Michigan City early Sunday morning but they are calling for 17mph SE winds and Storms in the PM. It seems the good catches are in 50-60 FOW and I don't know how far out from the wall I would have to go in my kayak to reach those depths. With winds gusting to 25MPH I could get stuck fishing the creek and harbor. Does anyone know if anyone is still catching fish in the harbor?

Nobody has really been fishing the inner harbor... but there's a lot of bait there

Probably a few browns or skamania around. And likely some drum

I'd keep an eye on the creek level - with the forecast, if Michigan City gets hit by a thunderstorm or 2 tonight, or Sunday morning, the harbor could be chocolate milk in short order. As of right now it's pretty stained and the creek is running over 200 cfs, which is more than twice the normal flow

How far out would I have to go to get into clean water and some fish. The last time, I went up I fished the the creek and harbor after a storm and with water looked like Yoohoo and I never got a bite.

Yesterday the mudline was barely outside the lighthouses. Northerly winds will push it in, southerly winds will blow it out. Dropping creek will bring it in, rising creek will push it out. I would say I was catching kings within a mile of the lighthouse yesterday, but didn’t measure with the gps. You’re always going to risk bad fishing, but with the rewards right now I would say it’s worth a shot. My biggest concern in my kayaks on the big lake is getting run over by a pleasure boater. I’m not sure whet your launching situation is, but if you can deal with 100yds of sand between your truck and the water Porter beach on Waverly RD in Chesterton would put you just west of the Pavilion at the Dunes state park which is where Angry Pirate, Dirty, and SteelieDon all have been reporting good fishing. A lot less boat traffic there in terms of pleasure boats since its not fishing a harbor mouth.

You can see in that last picture the beach you have to contend with, and a guy’s truck there that rents paddle boards and yaks in the summer. The parking in the two lots just south of there is free, and they allow kayaks, SUP’s, rafts, etc unlike the State Park. That area can also be good for perch in the summer.

Thank you for the response. I had two pleasure boats try and swamp me on purpose the last time up at MC. The Cost Guard saw one of them do it and chased him down and ripped him a new one, he never went over 5 mph in the harbor the rest of the day. I have never been to Chesterton but I'm sure I can google it and find it. How far out would I have to go to get into fish? I will be alone so I don't want to get to far out until I get my new radio next week. Do you think 17MPH SE winds would be an issue?

I can’t tell you how far you’ll have to go out to get fish Sunday morning, because today is only Friday and they are capable of moving. 17MPH winds out of the SE won’t be a problem, but if they bump up to 18mph or swing around to E/SE, boy look out...

The lake chages constantly, there’s not going to be definite answers to those questions. The fish have been close and its been good fishing. 50yrs from now we may be looking back at 2018/19 as the last of the glory years, who knows? This salmon fishing PROBABLY won’t last much longer this season. But if you miss out on it, in another month or maybe less we will PROBABLY see some fair to excellent skamania fishing in the same areas that you can fish in a kayak.

In all seriousness, if the wind is from the south east even at 25mph you shouldn’t be worried about waves in the water you’d be fishing in a kayak. I would however make sure to have you safety plan in order. PFD and a whistle or air horn, a paddle leash and tether to keep the kayak close to you if you get dumped and know damn well can you pull yourself back up on the boat if you do end up in the water.

Thank you for the information. I see now that they are calling for rain and storms Sunday morning and afternoon. I think I will keep my eyes on the weather and still plan to go on Sunday and if it looks good I'll go for it and if not I'll jump on US20 and head east and go fish for rainbows at Big Cedar Lake in Colombia City. I really want to put a big king in my kayak but at the same time I want to be as safe as possible. I don't want the lake to catch me off guard and I get in trouble out there by myself. So I really appreciate all the information and advice.